Septic Tank Probs - Pat?
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Topic: Septic Tank Probs - Pat?
Posted By: Dave H
Subject: Septic Tank Probs - Pat?
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 10:42am
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Live approx 10 miles SE of Springfield IL. System is approx 22 years old. It does not drain worth a hoot during the spring wet season. Looking for a recommendation on a company to look at a recommendation/estimate/upgrade of my system. Appreciate any suggestions/recommendations Thanx
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Replies:
Posted By: dee_veloper
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 1:37pm
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check with your local county office. they sometimes have a list of qualified providers. they can also advise on what to ask about. ------------- Don't confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am. My attitude depends on who you are. |
Posted By: Dirt Farmer
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 1:43pm
| Sent you an email with a qualified contact. Good luck |
Posted By: jaybmiller
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 5:53pm
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sounds like saturated soil around weeping bed due to Spreing 'runoff'.... possible help would be to redirect 'snowflow' away from the weeping bed, extend the bed ?,dig up bed, remove dirt, replace with clear gravel. I have a 'raised bed' consists of 5 runs of 20' 4" weepers, installed 30+ years ago...no problems. bed is mix of marble to pea sized gravels, NEVER see any grass stripes . ------------- 3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112 Kubota BX23S lil' TOOT( The Other Orange Tractor) Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 7:29pm
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might need to dig a ditch and bury a 6 inch perforated line from the BACK YARD to a LOW SPOT at the end of property to get the rain water soaked ground to BLEED OUT. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: Dave H
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 7:52pm
Been thinking the same thing Steve. How deep do you think the proliferated tube should be across the wet area/
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steve(ill) wrote:Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 7:56pm
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your laterals are probably 24- 30 inches deep... would be NICE to get the water table down to that area so the leach field was working.. I assume if you dig a hole 18 inches deep it will have water in it the next day ?.......... all depends on the surrounding ground and slope of the areas.. If you can dig 30 inches down and then have a SLOPE in the drain pipe to a ditch to gulley or LOW SPOT, that might help.... you got to get rid of the WATER TABLE if you want the septic field to work.
dig a ditch with a hoe.. lay perforated pipe in bottom.. put a foot of gravel on top an then back fill with dirt.. need an inch or two in 10 ft slope to get good drain. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 9:44pm
| when was the last time the tank was pumped? |
Posted By: Pat the Plumber CIL
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 10:24pm
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Maguire out Virden Illinois. Sangamon or Christian county? If it is Sangamon 1000 dollars before you put a shovel in the ground. 480 bucks for a permit, 500 for soil analysis. ------------- You only need to know 3 things to be a plumber;Crap rolls down hill,Hot is on the left and Don't bite your fingernails 1964 D-17 SIV 3 Pt.WF,1964 D-15 Ser II 3pt.WF ,1960 D-17 SI NF,1956 WD 45 WF. |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2021 at 10:38pm
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thats why you need a RAIN WATER DRAIN instead of a SEPTIC TANK REPAIR !! ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2021 at 3:31am
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Had a soil analysis done for our drain field, a neighbor not two miles away used same company, no longer do a sry ground 5 gallon Percolation test, they actually analyze what soils you have and properties of that. Ours has a sock wrapped perforated drain pipe where the pipe is surrounded by styrofoam almost packing peanuts where the evaporation value is good. Neighbor had to have a evaporation lagoon as his soils do not allow evaporation at a high enough calie. |
Posted By: Dave H
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2021 at 6:50am
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Thanks Pat, I am in touch with Macguires, sent them the soil analysis, they don't seem very responsive, we will see. Shameless, twice in the last two years, but I don't see that as relevant to the leach field issue.
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Posted By: Kenny L.
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2021 at 8:54am
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Dave, if you let your tank get to full and it discharges solids into the fields it'll plug them up and willn't work right when the ground gets saturated, don't ask how I know. |
Posted By: Coke
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2021 at 9:02am
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I'd second MacGuires, they've kept me running all these years. When they first came out, they made some minor mods to my old system, and it's been working since. ------------- 1957 D17 Diesel w/ M&W Pistons |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2021 at 10:11am
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Around here the dang Permitting now say you need a mound just about on every job . So from the $4,000 jobs I use to install then are now $15,000 cost . Gave up my MN credentials as Designer, Soil Tester, Installer, Inspector a few years back as work was so slow and prices became out of reach on Insurance and Licenses in MN. I installed a lot of 12" grave-less leach bed for years , then went to chamber systems along with pressure bed at-grade system . Seems the 1 1/2" rock in 36"W x 24"D trench and 4" perforated pipe I first used is seldom used now as rock is to expensive. ------------- Life lesson: If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re on a horse, to the left of you is a giraffe and on the right is a unicorn, what do you do? You stop drinking and get off the carousel. |
Posted By: Trawler II
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2021 at 10:21am
Coke, Curious as to the pressure bed at grade system. Have you been able to see how well that system works long term? I'm thinking you're talking about perforated tube or pipe and the effluent is pressure fed by pump through the pipe or tubing. Wondering how well the pump and other components hold up and the amount of maintenance for this type of system. Thanks.
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Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2021 at 10:27pm
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Live approx 10 miles SE of Springfield IL. System is approx 22
years old. It does not drain worth a hoot during the spring wet
season. Looking for a recommendation on a company to look at a
recommendation/estimate/upgrade of my system. Dave... think about this a bit more... the 'spring wet season' identifies the part of seasonal rainfall... but what's even more important, is the circumstance of your leach field in terms of slope, surface runoff drainage, and FROST DEPTH. Let's say you're in March, and the frost depth is 15"... you essentially have a SEALED perimeter of ice, trapping surface moisture atop your leach field, saturating it such that it simply cannot leach out. If you have a substantial deluge, will the surface water flow in any particular direction? ------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: 1951WDNWWI
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2021 at 11:03pm
| We have a pressure fed mound system about 120 feet by 30 feet. Works very well. It is supposed to keep the perforated pipe from plugging. System was built 22 years ago. We had the force pump replaced 2 years ago due to failure of the motor. When the pump was lifted out it was twice the size of original. Bacteria loves to grow on warm places. |
Posted By: Trawler II
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2021 at 7:08am
Using a mound system is interesting. Using mounds you'd be better able to control the media for absorption, Reason for my interest is my father-in-law recently passed away and the family is selling his place. He has an aerated septic system that discharges to surface of ground. Back when the house was built this was probably acceptable, today I have my doubts. The location of the tank rules out a gravity fed lateral field, I'm thinking the pressure fed system may be the only option. Thank you for the information. |
Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2021 at 8:43am
| Around here in Ohio that's the way they have to be installed tile is at grounds surface and covered with dirt , you see them going across the yard just a raised area. |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2021 at 12:55pm
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Have installed pressure bed with chambers where hole was 30' x 60' x 2'deep and placed chambers in hole with about 1' between base - then backfilled over with material from dig . Ran a 1 1/2 " PVC through full area with it suspended from top of chambers with tie wraps - that pipe had 1/8" hole drilled every 18" - pump sized to give pressure to distribute flow to every hole under a pressure - Pipe and chambers also pitched so they drain out after pump cycle so no fluid left in the pipes to freeze - pump riser also drilled with a small weep hole to prevent full system creating syphon or drain back At grade can be rock or the gravel less tubes - similar to mound but where soil under the area will pass, yet restricting layer is 3' or less - again pressure distribution used so ponding in one area doesn't happen and full area is treated evenly . ------------- Life lesson: If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re on a horse, to the left of you is a giraffe and on the right is a unicorn, what do you do? You stop drinking and get off the carousel. |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2021 at 1:04pm
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The full idea of a mound is to get separation from restricted layers - So a artificial layer of clean washed sand is layered down to build this separation , but the full area has to be level across the mound so one end could have 2' of sand but other end might have 5' and then the base or toe of mound has to extend out at a 4 x 1 grade . Last one a friend put in I hauled the sand for was on a side slope - 700 yards of sand hauled in and spread , then 250 yards of cover material ------------- Life lesson: If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re on a horse, to the left of you is a giraffe and on the right is a unicorn, what do you do? You stop drinking and get off the carousel. |
Posted By: Dave H
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2021 at 7:04am
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Well this saga should come to a close before winter. Macguires is gonna put an aeration type tank in and run the waste water to a leach field in the front yard where the soil tests out OK. Dang, lost a lot of time. The email from Macguires all goes to my Spam folder for some reason and I wasn't checking there. We should get ground broken in maybe 6 weeks. Man, between having to replace the Geo Thermal unit and this , the ole bill fold will not get over full this year.
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Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2021 at 12:14pm
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Friend just installed a new Mound system and new tanks in a home with a failing system . Had old tanks pumped on Friday and whet to start the job on Monday and pumped tanks were both full . Had them pumped again then installed new tanks 1,500 first , 1,200 next and a 1,000 gal pump tank - started prepping for mound and hauling in sand . - Tanks filled up and he had to have them pumped as somehow water use became a problem again . He asked me if I ever had a problem like that - NO but I recommended he insist the homeowner install a water meter on supply line in house or the new system would be failing from that flow as his design could not handle the volume coming from house . Ends up there were several leaks in home as well as the perimeter drain for foundation and floor in basement were discharging to septic system . ------------- Life lesson: If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re on a horse, to the left of you is a giraffe and on the right is a unicorn, what do you do? You stop drinking and get off the carousel. |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2021 at 12:23pm
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Another friend got called back to a job he had completed on a new house as the drain field was failing with water surfacing . He added another 100 lineal feet to system to solve the problem . A month later he was called back out as surfacing water again appeared in yard . On checking around he heard the well cycling so looked around and noticed through window, kitchen faucet was running full on . Seems the homeowner had a dispute with the builder and to get back at him he was purposely running water to make the septic fail . Matter ended up in court - friend got paid for the extra work and materials he spent in oversizing system . ------------- Life lesson: If you’re being chased by a lion, you’re on a horse, to the left of you is a giraffe and on the right is a unicorn, what do you do? You stop drinking and get off the carousel. |
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2021 at 12:28pm
| I purposely put the Kitchen and Laundry with Water Softener into a Gray Water drain field, NOT to the Septic, only materials going there are Toilets and bath facilities, so far Knocking on my wooden head, no problems. |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2021 at 1:47pm
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Dave H, your area may be near higher clay soils? Those soils can be hard & tightest so water doesn’t perk well? The 20 years - any tree roots possibly growing into septic drain pipe?? Ocassionally dump cooking yeast into toilets to help feed microbes & promote microbe repopulation in septic tank. DONT use any store box septic solutions, as they may kill microbes. Try to buy only septic safe detergents(Laundry, dishwasher, sink, showers, etc). |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2021 at 1:56am
| also....never use the toilet cleaning chemicals, they will kill a septic system. |
Posted By: Greg (Hillsboro, OH)
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2021 at 9:10am
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A few years back, the septic field at the place I worked had failed due to compaction of the ground, so the tank was being pumped 2 or 3x a week. We found a company who came in and blew compressed air into the ground around the septic system that loosened/opened up the ground and the system was working again. I do not remember that this process was called or who would do it, but might be worth investigating. |